This invention relates to load hauling vehicles or trucks, and more particularly to a truck hoist and dump assembly, which enables the truck load bed selectively to be dumped by inclining it to the vertical, or to be exchanged by elevating and disengaging it from the truck chassis, so that the elevated bed can be supported on the ground by collapsible legs, jacks, or the like, and so that the truck chassis can be driven out from beneath the elevated bed.
Most conventional dump trucks utilize a load bed which is pivotally mounted on the rear end of a truck chassis for movement into and out of a plane inclined to the horizontal, thereby to enable a load to slide by gravity from the rear end of the bed. Each such load bed is usually mounted to pivot about a fixed, horizontal axis adjacent the rear end of the vehicle chassis, and is releasably locked at its forward end to the truck chassis to prevent any accidental pivoting of the bed out of its horizontal position.
In addition to the common dump truck, it has also been conventional to employ a so-called dumpster-type truck that carries a load bed that is releasably attached to the frame of the truck. A hydraulic lifting mechanism on the truck is operable to lift its load bed off the truck frame and onto the ground. By reversing the process the detached truck bed can once again be reattached to the frame of the truck for movement therewith. One of the disadvantages of these dumpster-type trucks is that it is usually necessary to employ a rather complicated hoisting device for positioning the releasable truck bed on, and for removing it from, the frame of the truck.